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| Friday, 23 April 2004 |
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Talawakelle Plantations records 44% increase in after tax profit to Rs. 60.3 m in 2003 Talawakelle Plantations Limited (TPL) has recorded a Rs 60.3 million after tax profit for the year 2003 compared to Rs 42 million the previous year. The gain in profit corresponds to a 44% increase over the previous year. Turnover has depreciated by 2.3% to Rs. 1,349.3 million as against Rs. 1,381.6 million achieved in 2002. The recorded after tax profit is attributed to high grown tea performing well and significant contribution from other income such as timber and lease rental income. Chairman of Talawakelle Plantations Limited (TPL), Sunil Mendis in his review on the annual performance said that the performance of the company can be considered satisfactory on view of the challenges such as Middle Eastern crisis and disastrous floods in the South of the country the industry faced during the year. Mendis said that performance of the year was below expectations due to the adverse impact arising from the Middle Eastern crisis, damage and disruption caused by floods and the dry weather conditions that affected high grown teas. The sharp decline in low grown tea prices and the reduction in crops had a significant impact on the profitability of the company's low grown teas. He said that the high grown tea sector however performed better than the previous year due to the focus on producing quality teas. A decline in crops, increase wage rates granted in the previous year and high energy costs contributed to a higher cost of production during the year thereby eroding some of the gains received by producing quality teas. "The company continued to pursue its quality policy and its adherence to the best practices in agriculture and manufacturing operations and processes during the year. Improving productivity of land and human resources continued to receive priority. Practising 5S, optimising inter-plantation production, mechanising field/factory operations, improving worker education and skills development and using of IT to improve communication were some of the measures adopted", he said. He said that with increasing competition from emerging producers of orthodox teas and productive tariffs being imposed by importing countries such as Russia and Ukraine for value added teas, producing and marketing of quality teas at globally competitive prices was a sine quo non to capture and sustain an improved demand for Lankan teas. "The strategy in the coming year would be focused on producing a quality tea while maintaining cost management, productivity improvements and rationalising and consolidating operations. Human resource development, reduction of energy usage and environmental conservation practices will also be given priority", he said. (S.P.) |
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